Community health

THI runs a health outreach programme in 33 villages in the Sittilingi valley and the Kalrayan Hills.

Each village has nominated one married woman to be trained as a Health Auxiliary. She offers advice on good nutrition, hygiene, birthing practices and simple ailments, maintain records on important health events in the village and act as facilitators for all community development work. She also has basic tablets for dispensing at the village level.

Every month, our Health Auxiliaries gather at the THI campus for two days, to meet with each other. At these meetings, they discuss the health of their villages, reporting births and deaths of village members, and other relevant information. These meetings also allow for their continuing education opportunities.

Our Health Workers conduct monthly mobile clinics for all pregnant women and under-5 children. This has been the most essential factor in significantly bringing down infant and maternal mortality and morbidity in the area. The village’s Health Auxiliary coordinates with the hospital regarding when the mobile health team will next visit the village. She notifies the village members of the appropriate date, and when the team arrives, she gathers the patients for treatment. We have also got into care for the elderly and mental health awareness.

The initiatives have brought down infant mortality from 147/1000 in 1993 to 20/1000 now. We have no mothers dying in childbirth for the past 10 years in a row. Malnourishment in children has come down by about 70 per cent and there is an almost 100 per cent completion of TB treatment in the

villages we work in.
In addition, we also run an ambulance service for the 21 villages. Patients can be transported to the Tribal Hospital or referred to tertiary care centres in Salem and Dharmapuri as and when needed.

Every month, out Health Auxiliaries gather at the THI campus for two days, to meet with each other. At these meetings, they discuss the health of their villages, reporting births and deaths of village members, and other relevant information. These meetings also allow for their continuing education opportunities.

Our Health Workers conduct monthly mobile clinics for all pregnant women and under 5 children. This has been the most essential factor in significantly bringing down infant and maternal mortality and morbidity in the area. The village’s Health Auxiliary coordinates with the hospital regarding when the mobile health team will next visit the village. She notifies the village members of the appropriate date, and when the team arrives, she gathers the patients for treatment. We have also got into care for the elderly and mental health awareness.